The Lakers didn’t pick a great summer to desperately need to fill their center position.
With a fairly shallow free agent market when it comes to bigs, the Lakers are going to be left with slim pickings. As a result, it’s pretty easy to telegraph who they are going to pursue.
On Saturday, NBA reporter Jake Fischer wrote that other teams around the NBA are expecting the Lakers to go after Brook Lopez.
Perhaps the most established center headed for the open market is the ring-winning Brook Lopez. Two summers ago, you’ll recall, both San Antonio and Houston pursued Lopez aggressively before the Bucks successfully convinced him to re-sign.
This time around, however, numerous rival teams are bracing for the center-craving Los Angeles Lakers to make a run at luring Lopez away from the Bucks.
Even if the Lakers plan to address their center void by pursuing Atlanta’s Clint Capela instead or perhaps a target not as frequently discussed, there is a growing belief Lopez will indeed be on the move next week after a highly successful seven-season stint alongside Giannis Antetokounmpo.
As always, the wording here is important. This isn’t sourcing from the Lakers but teams around the league. It’s not to say that this isn’t true, but it is to say that it should be taken with a grain of salt.
Particularly recently, the Lakers have developed a habit of working in silence. You need look no further than either the Luka Dončić trade or the sale of the team to see two moves that came out of nowhere.
Having said all that, this is also sort of a “Duh!” moment, too. There aren’t many viable bigs on the market and Lopez is one of the most seasoned veterans available.
The questions with Lopez revolve around his age and how rapidly his game is declining. His performance in the playoffs was quite alarming and raised lots of flags. His days of being a legitimate starting big man seem to be in the past, but as a backup big, the Lakers could certainly do worse.
But his history with the franchise and being an LA native both make it easy to assume that LA could be a viable destination.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at@JacobRude.